There is a great deal of
confusion
about the subject of predestination. Some people are sure they
know
what it is. Some have an idea what they think it might mean. Some
people don’t even pretend they know what it's all about. But the
concept of predestination affects every human being, for it has to do
with
whether or not each one of us enters the Kingdom of God. Wouldn't
you like to know something about your eternal destiny? Are we
truly
puppets on a string, acting out a grim dance at God's will? Or
are
we children of God, being raised by our Father to make wise choices and
mature decisions in our lives? We need to find out!

Admittedly, it's a difficult
topic. We should have a good grasp of what predestination
is. After all, it affects our entire future.

Yet there is so much
confusion
about it! There are so many ideas, so many foundational
denominational
doctrines and dogmas about this very important topic, that the average
person is left scratching his or her head, and leaving it to others to
understand this deep, mysterious doctrine. The easy way out is to
let others explain it in simple terms. "Just tell me -- am I
going
to fly, or am I going to fry?"

When we consider that
different
people and different denominations have different understandings about
this doctrine, we might realize that relying on others for our
understanding
may not be enough. If we want the straight information, we need
to
go straight to the Bible.

Let's look at the subject
of predestination.
But let's look at what the Bible says, not what was taught by various
religious
personalities throughout history. This will be something of a
technical
presentation, but you'll be highly rewarded by what you learn about
this
important topic.

First of all, what is
predestination?
Some people are certain that every move we make, every twist and turn
of
life, and how our lives will end up, has somehow been ordained from
ancient
times. It's surprising how many people believe this, even though the
concept
is nowhere found in the Bible!

Others think predestination
means
God has been working out His plan, and who He's going
to
use to fulfill that plan might be undecided until it's time to do what
God wants done.

Probably the most serious
issue
concerning predestination is the question about whether or not God
knows,
already, from eternity, whether we are going to choose life or death,
salvation
or destruction, the Kingdom of God or the fire of Gehenna.

Here's the major dilemma:
If God
already
knows if we will accept Him or reject Him, and it's already written
in what we might call "future history," then it doesn't matter
what
we do in this life. If we're destined for salvation, then we can be the
worst sinners in history and still be saved -- if God knows we're going
to have some kind of last minute "death bed repentance," or if He has
decided
to accept us into His kingdom regardless of our life style and
behavior.
If this were true, we wouldn't have to live according to the Way of
life
shown in the Bible. Our salvation would be automatic.

Now let's consider the
other side
of the concept. If we are predestined to fail -- if we're already
doomed to destruction, no matter what -- then it doesn't matter how
righteous or faithful we are in this life. It's all in vain, if God has
already decided ahead of time whether we live or die.

Pretty scary, isn't it? Is
this
what predestination is all about? This is what we'll be exploring
in this article, because if this is not the case, we'll need to
know! What, in fact, does the Bible teach us about
predestination?

Predestination in the
Dictionary

Nelson's Illustrated
Bible Dictionary
defines predestination as "The biblical teaching that declares the
sovereignty
of God over man in such a way that the freedom of the human will is
also
preserved." So far, so good. God is definitely sovereign. But this
dictionary
article immediately starts to chase its tail and get itself into a
problem.

Notice what the dictionary
says:
"Two major concepts are involved in the biblical meaning of
predestination.
First, God, who is all-powerful in the universe, has foreknown and
predestined
the course of human history and the lives of individuals. If He
were not in complete control of human events, He would not be sovereign
and, thus, would not be God."

Notice the human reasoning
here.
If God was not able to predict every little detail, every time -- if
God
could not actually decide who was going to live and what they
were
going to do, in every detail -- He would not be God. God would have, to
use the old challenge, created a rock that was so big that even He
couldn't lift it. But this is how humans think. The author admits
that God is sovereign, but then narrowly defines what it means to be
sovereign.
Thus, the author has begun to paint himself into a corner.

Continuing: "Second, God’s
predestination
of human events does not eliminate human choice." Wait a
minute.
What's this? God knows what we'll do, so we don't have any choice, but
-- we have free choice. Does this make sense? Even the author of
this article seems to feel that these two facets of the definition
don’t
fit together comfortably, because he continues by saying:

"A thorough understanding
of how
God can maintain His sovereignty and still allow human freedom seems
to be reserved for His infinite mind alone. Great minds have struggled
with this problem for centuries." Well, we might suggest that, since
great
minds have struggled with this and not come up with a satisfactory
answer,
then perhaps there's something wrong with this definition!

The article continues: "Two
views
of predestination are prominent among church groups today. One view,
known
as Calvinism, holds that God offers irresistible grace to those
whom
he
elects to save. The other view, known as Arminianism, insists that
God’s
grace is the source of redemption but that it can be resisted
by
man through his free choice. In Calvinism, God chooses the
believer;
in Arminianism, the believer chooses God."

What's wrong with this
definition?
This is a good example of polarity in religious thinking. It's one or
the
other, either/or, black or white. Either God chooses you, or you choose
God. This definition tends to negate the concept that we are
forming
a covenant with God.

A covenant is an agreement
between
two parties. The Bible shows that God and we set about to form a
relationship,
and mutually choose each other! God can predestine to call us, as
individuals
or as an ekklesia, and we have the freedom to accept His
generous
offer or reject it. It's not that we "choose God," or that He
irresistibly
chooses us, but rather that we agree to the covenant He is proposing.

So, in addition to the
questionable
idea suggested earlier, that God knows all things and everything is
already
determined, these two other concepts of predestination have also
existed throughout the last several centuries.

Now we have three different
ideas
to sort through.

The earliest records we
have of
predestination in Christian thought come from Augustine of Hippo in the
third or fourth century A.D.. It's an idea that's been around for some
time.

Here is an excerpt from the
book,
Aid
to Bible Understanding (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society), from
the
article "Foreknowledge, foreordination": "Foreknowledge [Greek:
prognosis,
or proginosko, Strong's #4267] means knowledge of a thing before
it happens or exists. ... Foreordination [proorizo, Strong's
#4309,
which the KJV translates as "predestinate"] means the ordaining,
decreeing
or determining of something beforehand. ..."

These two concepts are
similar
to each other, but they are actually quite different in their
application.

Quoting the article: "To
understand
the matter of foreknowledge and foreordination as relating to God,
certain
factors necessarily must be recognized.

"First, God’s ability
to
foreknow and foreordain is clearly stated in the Bible.
Jehovah
himself sets forth as proof of his Godship this ability to foreknow and
foreordain events ... and then to bring such events to fulfillment. ...

"A second factor to be
considered
is the free moral agency of God’s intelligent creatures. The Scriptures
show that God extends to such creatures the privilege and
responsibility
of free choice, of exercising free moral agency..., thereby making
them accountable for their acts. ... Man could not truly have been
created
in ‘God’s image’ if he were not a free moral agent. ...

"Another factor that must
be considered,
one sometimes overlooked, is that of God’s moral standards and
qualities,
including his justice, honesty and impartiality, his love, mercy
and kindness, as revealed in the Bible. Any understanding of God’s use
of the powers of foreknowledge and foreordination must therefore
harmonize
with not only some, but all these factors. ...

"The question then arises:
Is his
exercise of foreknowledge infinite, without limit? Does he foresee and
foreknow all future actions of all his creatures, spirit and
human?
And does he foreordain such actions or even predestinate what shall be
the final destiny of all his creatures, even doing so
before
they have come into existence?

"Or, is God’s exercise of
foreknowledge
selective
and discretionary, so that whatever he chooses to foresee and
foreknow,
he does, but what he does not choose to foresee and foreknow,
he
does not? ...

"The view that God’s
exercise of
his foreknowledge is infinite and that he does foreordain the
course
and destiny of all individuals is known as predestinarianism."

So now we know what to call
the
concept we're examining -- predestinarianism.

The article
continues: "This
concept would mean that, prior to creating angels or ... man, God
exercised
his powers of foreknowledge and foresaw and foreknew all that
would
result from such creation, including the rebellion of [the angels] ...,
the subsequent rebellion of [Adam and Eve] ..., and all the bad
consequences
of such rebellion down to and beyond this present day."

The article then looks at
the idea
of predestination, and predestinarianism, as they relates to the
ekklesia:

"There remain those texts
that
deal with the Christian ‘called ones’ or ‘chosen ones’ (Jude 1; Matt.
24:24).
They are described as ‘chosen according to the foreknowledge of God’ (1
Peter 1:1-2), ‘chosen before the founding of the world,’ ‘foreordained
to the adoption as sons of God’ (Eph. 1:3-5, 11), ‘selected from the
beginning
for salvation and called to this very destiny’ (2 Thess. 2:13-14). The
understanding of these texts depends upon whether they refer to the
foreordination
of certain individual persons, or whether they describe the
foreordination
of a class of persons, namely, the Christian congregation. ...

"If these words apply to specific
individuals as foreordained to eternal salvation, then it follows
that
those individuals could never prove unfaithful or fail in their
calling, for God’s foreknowledge of them could not prove inaccurate and
his foreordination of them to a certain destiny could never ... be
thwarted.
Yet the ... apostles ... showed that some who were ‘bought’ and
‘sanctified’
by the blood of Christ's ransom sacrifice and who had ‘tasted the
heavenly
free gift’ and ‘become partakers of holy spirit ... and powers of the
coming
system of things’ would fall away beyond repentance and bring
destruction
upon themselves (2 Peter 2:1-2, 20-22; Heb 6:4-6; 10:26-29). The
apostles
unitedly urged those to whom they wrote to ‘do your utmost to make the
calling and choosing of you sure for yourselves; for if you keep on
doing
these things you will by no means ever fail’; also to ‘keep working out
your own salvation with fear and trembling’ (2 Peter 1:10-11; Phil
2:12-16).
...

"Similarly, the ‘crown’ of
life
offered such ones is granted subject to their faithfulness
under
trial until death (James 1:12; Rev. 2:10, 23). ..."

The book continues: "On the
other
hand, [if predestination is] viewed as applying to a class, to
the
Christian congregation or ‘holy nation’ of called ones as a whole, (1
Peter
2:9), the texts previously cited would mean that God foreknew and
foreordained
that such a class (but not the specific individuals forming
it)
would be produced. Also, these scriptures would mean that he prescribed
or foreordained the ‘pattern’ to which all those ... called ... would
have
to conform ... (Rom 8:28-30; Eph. 1:3-12; 2 Tim. 1:9-10). He also
foreordained
the works such ones would be expected to carry out and their being
tested
due to the sufferings the world would bring upon them (Eph. 2:10; 1
Thess.
3:3-4). ..."

Ordinarily we wouldn't cite
such
long quotations, but this summarizes the whole story so well.

One final note of interest
from
this article: "The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious
Knowledge
(Vol. IX, p. 192) says: ‘Previous to Augustine there was no serious
development
in Christianity of a theory of predestination.’ Before Augustine,
earlier
so-called ‘Church Fathers’ such as Justin, Origen and Irenaeus ‘know
nothing
of unconditional predestination; they teach free will.’ In their refutation
of Gnosticism, they are described as regularly expressing their
belief
in the free moral agency of man as ‘the distinguishing characteristic
of
human personality, the basis of moral responsibility, a divine gift
whereby
men might choose that which was well-pleasing to God.’"

So we see that before
Augustine,
in the fourth century A.D., it was acknowledged that we must choose
whether to obey God or not. If we see that the idea of
predestinarianism
was developed within the fledgling Roman Catholic Church, perhaps we
should
then consider that it is not a biblical concept.

Proorizo

Now, let's look at every
verse
in the New Testament which contains the word "predestine," or
"predestinate."
Actually, "predestinate" appears only four times in the English
translation Bible. However, the Greek word which was translated
"predestinate"
is found in six places, so two times it was translated as
something
else. Here are the six places:

Acts 4:27-28 (NKJV):
"For
truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod
and
Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were
gathered
together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined
before
to be done."

Romans 8:29-30: "For
whom
He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed
to
the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many
brethren.
Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called;
whom He called, these He also
justified; and whom He justified,
these He also glorified."

1 Corinthians 2:7-8:
"But
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age
knew;
for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

Ephesians 1:3-12:
"Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He
chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined
us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the
good
pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which
He has made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of
His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good
pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in
Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth -- in Him. In Him also
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined
according
to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of
His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise
of
His glory."

These examples are
translated from
the Greek word proorizo (Strong's #4309). We might recognize
the
root "orizo" in our English word "horizon," which is the limit of how
far
we can see. "Pro" in this context means ahead of time. So proorizo,
translated "predestination," means to limit in advance, or to
predetermine
something.

Let's take another look at
those
verses just quoted.

Acts 4:27-28

We see in Acts 4:27-28 that
the
disciples were praying to the Father, saying that what happened to
Yeshua
was according to what the Father's hand and His purpose had determined
before to be done. We know that the Word of God was foreordained to
come
to earth as a human and die for our sins (John 1:1-14). It's one of the
main reasons He came! So it was Messiah's destiny which was
already
sealed, "from the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:18-21; Revelation
13:8; 17:8)!

Romans 8:29-30

In the passage in Romans
8:29-30,
we find a succession of events taking place. This is theology
here.
Paul is teaching pure theological concepts. He outlines several steps
God
goes through with each one of us to bring us finally into His Family.
Let's
look at these points one at a time.

Point #1: "For whom He
foreknew..."
God knew us ahead of the time He called us. He didn't just grab people
off the streets. He knew us ahead of time. The question posed by
predestinarians
is, "When did God foreknow us? During this lifetime, or from
clear
back into eternity?"

The predestinarian approach
is
that, since God knows all things, He knew each individual who has ever
lived, even from before creation week. Therefore, God already knows who
will succeed and who will fail, and our lives may just be a matter of
acting
out a pre-ordained script, and the outcome is already decided. God
knows
what our ultimate outcome will be, but we don’t.

Other people think, yes,
God knows
all
there is to know, but He doesn't know who all is going to answer
the
call, who will remain faithful until the end, and who will turn away
and
become an enemy. He doesn't know what our final decision will be. These
are things God may not be able to know -- or at least He chooses
not to know -- ahead of time. Therefore, we have free moral agency, and
we can choose whether to obey or not.

It's even been said that
God has
a job in mind for each one of us, and He's called us to do that job,
but
if we fall away, He has to call someone else to take our place. That
position
may not be supported biblically, but it is something to think about!

Point #2: "Whom He foreknew
He
also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might
be the firstborn among many brethren."

The first thing we can
notice here
is that predestination and foreknowledge are not the same thing!
Paul says God knew us first, then he predestined us for something. This
tends to conflict with the idea that predestination means that God
already
knows what our ultimate decision will be.

If we are predestined, what
are
we predestined to do, or become? The Bible says we were
predestined.
But what were we predestined for? This verse says that we, the
ones
God foreknew, were predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Does this mean we are to be conformed to the image of Messiah? Perhaps.
That's how most people take it. That's probably what it means.

But as an interesting
thought,
we might consider that it could also mean that we are to be conformed
into
an
image -- or a pattern, or a lifestyle, or a destiny -- which
is
described as "the image of a son of God."

Remember, in the Greek,
"son" isn't
capitalized, and the pronoun translated "his" is not precise, so it may
not be referring just to the Messiah. Paul may be telling us that we
were
predestined to be conformed to the image of a son of God!

We may recall that John
wrote,
in 1 John 3:2: "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet
been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

Even though we have Messiah
living
in us, we won't all end up becoming just like Him in every detail. We
are
different individuals, with different personalities and potentials. Yet
each of us, every individual, is being conformed into what God wants us
to be, which will ultimately be a resurrected son of God.

So it appears that, as we
go through
life, facing challenges, overcoming obstacles, learning to make wise
choices,
we are being shaped into the image of a son of God, so that Yeshua
would
be the firstborn among many siblings, each of whom is an individual.

Point #3: "Moreover whom He
predestined,
these He also called." Here we see that predestination and being
called are not the same thing, either! Once God knew us, and
assigned
us this destiny, He then began to work with us, opening our minds a
little at a time, showing us things in the Bible we hadn't seen before,
and causing us to ask questions we had never asked before.

The calling begins to
separate
us from others around us, as many people have experienced. We know that
everyone will ultimately be called and invited into the Family. We
anxiously
look forward to that day. Some people have been called ahead of
the rest of humanity. Ultimately, all humans have the same
destiny.
But during this lifetime, God is calling His first fruits. Once He knew
who they would be, He gave them this particular destiny that the first
fruits have, then He set about to send them on the path toward that
destiny.

We know the verse that
says, "Many
are called, but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14). This strongly implies
that we have the freedom of choice. If we don’t choose that Way
of life, God won't choose us to be in the resurrection. The
letters
to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 mention rewards that would come
to
those who overcome to the end.

This implies that not
everyone
in those churches would be eligible for those rewards, and that
Christians
do have to qualify for their rewards. We don’t earn our salvation, but
we will be rewarded according to our works.

Point #4: "Whom He called,
these
He also justified." Justification is a large part of our Christian
life,
but we won't spend time looking at it now. Suffice it to say
that,
when we respond to the call, and repent and are baptized for the
remission
of sin, we then stand justified before God. We are then to go on to
perfection,
or spiritual maturity, during the course of our lifetimes.

Point #5: "And whom He
justified,
these He also glorified." Of course, this is yet future, when we will
be
glorified in our immortal spirit bodies at the resurrection. This is
the
final stage in a series of steps God takes to bring us to the
resurrection.

Predestination is only one
step
in this progression of events leading to our ultimate salvation.

1 Corinthians 2:7-8

Here's a verse that can be
misunderstood
if read carelessly. 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 says, "But we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
ages
for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they
known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

"Ordained" is translated
from the
same Greek word, proorizo, that is elsewhere translated
"predestined."
So, Paul is saying "we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden
wisdom which God predestined before the ages for our glory."

A superficial reading might
suggest
that we are predestined for glory, and that God ordained before
the ages who would be glorified. That's not what the verse says. It
says
that what was predestined, or ordained -- what was pre-determined
before
the ages -- was the wisdom of God!

Ephesians Chapter 1

This passage in Ephesians
chapter
one brings much of this information together in an explanation of what
God is doing, and how predestination fits into that picture.
Let's
examine the passage.

Ephesians 1:3-4: "Blessed
be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He
chose
us in Him before the foundation of the world."

We were chosen before the
foundation
of the world. What was the choice? What did God choose? Were you,
personally,
chosen millions of years ago, to say "yes" to God, and to be in the
resurrection,
while the guy next door, who also went to Sabbath services right
alongside
us, was chosen to say "no," and be destroyed?

Does the Bible say that God
had
a choice, but that we don’t? Does the Bible say that God chose you to
make
it, but He may not have chosen your spouse? No, it says in verse 4, we
were chosen by God "that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in love." That's justification! That's not salvation!

Our predestination, as we
saw earlier,
was one step in a progression where God chooses whom He will call in
this
life. And the predestination mentioned here is not to the
resurrection,
but to being called, so that we can be holy and blameless
before
Him. How do we do that? Through repentance and baptism. And those are
voluntary
attributes. We make the final decision on those things.

Verse 5: "having
predestined us
to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself." Does this mean we were
ordained beforehand to be in the resurrection? Not necessarily. It
depends
on what "adoption" means. The word "adopted" is translated from the
Greek
word huiothesia (hwee-oth-es-ee’-ah, Strong's #5206), which the
lexicons define primarily as adoption, but also as "the nature and
condition
of the true disciples in Christ, who by receiving the Spirit of God
into
their souls become sons of God."

So the Greek word carries
the meaning
of coming into God’s Family, but the "sonship" in this life is
still
technically an adoption. This verse carries the meaning that God, at
some
point previous to today, destined us to join His Family, which
we
have done if we are members of the Body of Christ today. At this
point, we can look on ourselves as being adopted, just as Paul
uses
the analogy about grafting branches onto a tree in Romans.

Later on, at the
resurrection,
we will become actual children of God, actually born
into
the actual family. That's what it's talking about here in verses 5-10.

Then in verse 11-12, "In
Him also
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the
purpose
of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that
we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory."

Again, it's not talking
about being
predestined to be successful in "making it" to the resurrection. In
this
verse, it's talking about how we, who first trusted in Christ -- that
is,
the first fruits, or the ekklesia of the present era -- were
destined
ahead of time to "be to the praise of [God’s] glory."

Many other scriptures show
that
God is glorified in us because of our willingness to live according to
His Way, and His teachings. That's why we were predestined to be to
God’s
praise and glory, because He foreknew us and was able to select the
right
people for the job!

In Contrast --
Foreknowledge!

Vine's Expository
Dictionary
of Biblical Words contains this entry under "Predestinate": "This
verb
[proorizo -- predestinate] is to be distinguished from proginosko,
'to foreknow'; the latter [to foreknow] has special reference to the
persons
foreknown by God; proorizo [predestinate] has special reference
to that to which the subjects of His foreknowledge are predestinated."

What does all that mean?
Vine's
tells us that the Greek word meaning "foreknowledge" has to do
with
people.
The word meaning "predestine" has to do more with
what it is
we are predestined to do, or to become. This
implies
that the biblical references to predestination do not refer to any
particular
human at all, other than Yeshua Himself, as we saw earlier in Acts
4:27-28.

Let's look at those verses
which
use the Greek word proginosko (Strong's #4267). Notice how
these
verses all deal with foreknowing something about people.

Acts 26:5, Paul
speaking:
"Theyknew me from the first [they foreknew me], if they
were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our
religion
I lived a Pharisee."

Romans 8:29: "For whom
He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image
of
His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."

Romans 11:2: "God
has not
cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not
know
what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against
Israel,
saying,"

1 Peter 1:20: "He
[Yeshua]
indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but
was manifest in these last times for you."

2 Peter 3:17: "You
therefore,
beloved, since youknow this beforehand, beware lest
you
also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of
the wicked."

In these verses, we can see
that
foreknowledge has to do with people, not whether someone is
saved.
None of these verses that talk about foreknowledge talks about
predestination
-- except one!

Romans 8:29 contrasts
foreknowledge
with predestination, showing that the two are not the same thing!
We
are seeing more evidence that predestinarianism is not the correct
interpretation
of scripture!

What About These
Scriptures?

There are a number of
scriptures
that are used in an attempt to substantiate predestinarianism. If we
look
at a few of these, we may be able to see less of predestinarianism, and
more of what predestination is all about!

Isaiah 44:6-8
(NASB): "Thus
says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
‘I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides me. And
who
is like me? Let him proclaim and declare it; yes, let him recount it to
me in order, from the time that I established the ancient nation. And
let
them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are
going to take place. Do not tremble and do not be afraid; have I
not
long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My
witnesses.
Is there any God besides me, or is there any other Rock? I know of
none.’"

This is talking about the
panoply
of ancient history and the prophecies of the future, as God envisions
them.
This is similar to when God was chastising Job, saying, "Where were you
when I laid the foundation of the earth?" (see Job chapter 38). The
primary
idea behind the passage in Job, and this passage in Isaiah, is that God
is pretty big, and we are pretty small, and it's God who calls the
shots.

But there's nothing here
that would
indicate that every person is known and planned out in advance, but
rather
that the events of history are pretty well laid out in the overall
scheme
of things.

Acts 13:46-49: "And
Paul
and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, ‘It was necessary that the word
of God should be spoken to you first. Since you repudiate it, and judge
yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the
Gentiles.
For thus the Lord has commanded us, "I have placed You as a light for
the
Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the end of the earth."’
And
when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the
word
of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life
believed.
And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region."

Yes, many in the crowd were
appointed
to eternal life. We would say it was God’s intention to call them into
the ekklesia. But there's nothing here that would point to each
of these people being known and scheduled to be called clear back into
eternity.

Likewise, the true believer
and
follower of Christ today can be considered to be "appointed to eternal
life"! As we saw earlier, there are several steps God takes us
through
on the road to the resurrection. We can understand that the time
when we are "appointed to eternal life" is the time we are assigned our
destiny, which is to be resurrected into the eternal Family of
God!
We are appointed to be there! How's that for
predestination?
You'd have to work really hard to not achieve your destiny!

You are appointed to
eternal life!
What are you worried about? Just settle into walking the
difficult
road to the narrow gate. It's your destiny. Go get it!

Here are other scriptures
often
used in an attempt to validate the concept of predestinarianism.

Acts 17:24-28: "The
God
who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and
earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served
by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to
all life and breath and all things; and He made from one, every
nation
of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined
their
appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation, that they
should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him,
though
He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and
exist,
as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His
offspring.’"

We can see definite
principles
being taught that God predestined national groups, and where they would
live, and when they would arise to world prominence. But there are no
specific
references to every individual person being known from antiquity, or
that
what all they would do in their lives would be known ahead of
time.
Notice also how God is not far from any of us at any time.
Wouldn't
that be the ultimate mockery, if God is so cruel that He would hide
nearby
and watch us as we struggle through our hopeless lives, finally to go
to
a bad end? Is that the kind of God you think we worship?
Heaven
forbid!

Matthew 25:34: "Then
the
King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My
Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’"

Notice: It isn't the "you"
who
was prepared from the foundation of the world -- it was the kingdom!

2 Timothy 1:9:
"[God] who
has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works,
but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us
in Christ Jesus from all eternity,"

That looks like a pretty
clear
statement that God granted us something from all eternity. If the
punctuation
is correct, I would have to agree.

But one problem with our
English
translations is that the translators had little in the way of
punctuation
to follow in the original language manuscripts. Sometimes they would
have
to guess at the correct punctuation in English. Sometimes they appear
to
have guessed wrong. In this case, the concept of "us" in relation to
"all
eternity" is debatable. However, I think we can all agree that "His own
purpose and grace" has existed "from all eternity."

If this is the case, and
the verse
is punctuated incorrectly, then perhaps the verse could be better
rendered,
"[God] ... saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according
to
our works, but according to His own eternal purpose and grace,
which
was granted us in Christ Jesus."

This may be one possible
solution
to a potential problem in this verse. But another solution presents
itself
if we simply view the verse in its context. Notice if we read all of
the
sentence, in 2 Timothy 1:8-11:

8 Therefore do
not
be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner; but
join
with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,9 who has saved
us,
and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according
to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ
Jesus
from all eternity,10 but now
has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who
abolished
death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,11 for which I was
appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

Let's take the sentence
apart and
see what is being said here. We have the concept of God’s "purpose and
grace" spread out over two verses. In verse 9, they were granted
to us in Christ Jesus. In verse 10, they have now been revealed
because Christ Jesus appeared! In verse 9, God’s purpose and grace are
said to be "from all eternity." In verse 10, they are "now." Reading
the
verse in context makes the meaning plain, and makes it more difficult
to
force a debatable concept into an isolated verse.

With either one of
these
explanations, it becomes evident that what existed from all eternity
was
God’s purpose and grace. These verses don’t claim that we have
existed
from all eternity, or that our identities were known
from
all eternity. It seems very unlikely that Paul even had that in mind
when
he wrote these verses.

Election

We need to touch just
briefly on
the subject of election. It would be difficult to have any serious
discussion
of predestination without examining the closely related concept of
election.
Being predestined is one step in becoming part of the elect.

The subject of election is
very
large. It covers being elect and being chosen. The two English words
come
from very similar Greek words. If we were to talk about election, we
would
talk about being in the ekklesia, and what all that entails.
The
subject of election touches on the topics of grace, justification,
sanctification,
reward, and eternity. Because of this complexity, we simply can't
discuss
election as a brief side issue.

Suffice it to say for now
that,
if predestination was simply walking through life according to a
pre-ordained
script, with the end of the story already determined, that would make a
mockery of salvation, repentance, forgiveness, and, indeed,
Christ's
sacrifice itself. It would make God an evil and hideous monster. It
would
invalidate the entire subject of election, and of making our calling
and
election sure (2 Peter 1:10).

Being predestined is a very
important
part of election. We simply don’t have time to go into the subject of
election
here. But the idea that each of us was known, individually,
billions
of years ago, does not fit in with what the Bible teaches about the
salvation
process, and about being called as first fruits now rather than being
resurrected
in the great harvest of the general resurrection later.

No Predestined
Condemnation

Now, if we take still
another approach
in our study of predestination, we should also realize that there is no
"predestined condemnation."

Catholic and Protestant
theologies
have a concept that, when you die, your immortal soul will go to heaven
or hell, based on your behavior in this life. This doctrine is not
being
held up as an example of predestination, but as an example of balance
in a doctrine. According to this teaching, some will go to heaven,
some will go to hell. Catholics have an additional step: Some will go
to
purgatory, where it will be decided if the person goes to heaven or
hell.
But there's a balance there.

In predestinarianism, there
is
a balance, because some people are (supposedly) already scheduled to be
saved, while others are (supposedly) already scheduled to be
lost.
The worry arises from not knowing which category we might be in, and
those
with low self-esteem have a fairly good idea they're locked into the
"lost"
category.

However, when we look into
the
Bible for signs of predestinarianism, we can see indications that there
may be some who have been destined for success. Some, but by no
means all. But there are no references in the Bible to anyone being
destined,
from the moment of birth, to be sentenced to failure, Gehenna
fire,
and condemnation!

We must ask the question,
simply
from the standpoint of logic: Is the doctrine of predestinarianism fair?
If some are irrevocably destined for the resurrection, is nobody
irrevocably
destined for Gehenna fire? Those who worry about such matters suspect
that
they might be the one scheduled for destruction. And if some are
destined for one and others are destined for the other, does that mean
everyone
is already pre-selected? The Bible nowhere teaches these concepts!

Even if we try to apply
predestinarianism
only to the idea that we are the first fruits, does the
Bible
teach that all the first fruits were foreknown to be
first
fruits, clear back from eternity? Did God know that so-and-so would
"leave
the church," and go back into the world, millennia before God
even
called him? Clearly, the Bible answer is "no."

But if we use the
predestinarian
viewpoint, and state that some people were pre-selected to be called
and
chosen as first fruits, does that then mean that all the rest of
the
people throughout time were destined from eternity not to
be
called as first fruits?

Well, in fact, the answer
here
is "yes"! That part is according to God’s plan, as we
understand
it. The vast majority of mankind was predestined not to be
called
as first fruits, but they are predestined to be called later on.

And that's what the
scriptures
are talking about when they refer to God’s eternal plan, and how this
was
prepared from all eternity. We must not lose sight of that. All humans
are predestined to be called at some point, whether in this life or the
next. That's God's plan. God plans to call every human who
ever lived to a knowledge of the truth and the grace that saves.
Whatever spirit teaches anything else is not from God!

But the point being made
here is
that the doctrine of predestinarianism is incomplete. It doesn't "cover
all the bases." Not everyone is accounted for. And God doesn't work
like
that.

The Bible gives no
indication regarding
the "flip side of the coin" -- that if there were some destined to
eternal
life "from the foundation of the world," there will also be some
destined
to eternal damnation "from the foundation of the world"! This is one of
the weaknesses in the predestinarianism outlook -- it isn't balanced.

The Foundation of the
World

We've already seen a number
of
scriptures referring to what has taken place "from the foundation of
the
world." What do these scriptures mean? Do they say that our names are
written
on a list in heaven compiled millions of years ago? Let's look at some
of these scriptures:

Matthew 13:35: "that
it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ‘I will
open
My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the
foundation
of the world.’"

Matthew 25:34: "Then
the
King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My
Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’"

Notice here: it's the
Kingdom,
not the individual, that has been prepared from the foundation of the
world!

Luke 11:50: "that
the blood
of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may
be required of this generation."

John 17:24: "Father,
I desire
that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they
may
behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the
foundation
of the world."

Ephesians 1:4: "just
as
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be
holy and without blame before Him in love."

Considering the testimony
of the
other scriptures we have seen, this passage, that "He chose us ...
before
the foundation of the world," is more likely a reference to the ekklesia
as a whole, rather than to individuals. He chose us as a group before
the
foundation of the world, as part of His overall plan, but most likely
He
chose us as individuals much more recently.

Hebrews 4:3: "For we
who
have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: ‘So I swore in
My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,’ although the works were
finished
from the foundation of the world."

This would tend to explain
the
previous verse we just read. God is doing a work on earth,
choosing
those He wishes to invite into His Family. The sense of this
verse
is that the plan was finished, and God was ready to "work His plan,"
before
He even began creating the planet!

By the way, if He swore in
His
wrath that Israel should not enter into the land of rest, that shows
that
it wasn't foreordained, but the result of Israel testing God and making
Him angry!

1 Peter 1:20: "He
indeed
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in
these last times for you."

Messiah was foreordained to
come
as our Savior. He is the only human so foreordained.

The fact is, we are not
able to
see from any of these verses any clear picture that we, as individual
names
and faces, were known and preordained millions of years ago. Rather, we
see that there were things kept secret since that time, such as the
Kingdom
being prepared for the New Covenant ekklesia.

We've also seen that the
Father
loved the Messiah from before the time the earth was made, yet He
planned
to send Him to die for us.

While these scriptures
don’t exactly
define
predestination
for us, they do give us some important information regarding what was
and was not involved in the time reference, "from the
foundation
of the earth."

What, Then, Is
Predestination?

The New Bible Dictionary
says that the word "predestination" is used "only with God as subject
[as the subject of the sentence], [and] expresses the thought of appointing
a situation for a person, or a person for a situation, in advance (pro-)."
It says the Bible "presents God the Creator as personal, powerful and
purposeful,
and assures us that as his power is unlimited, so his purposes are
certain
of fulfillment. ...

The article continues:
"Sometimes
Yahweh is pictured as reacting to developing situations in a
way
that might seem to imply that he had not anticipated them (e.g.,
when he repents, and reverses his prior action...)."

"That Yahweh governs human
history
... to bring about his own predestined purpose for human welfare, is
made
clear in the Bible story. ...

"The NT writers take for
granted
the OT faith that God is the sovereign Lord of events, and rules
history
for the fulfilling of his purposes. ... A new development, however, ...
is ... the idea of election, now applied, not to national Israel, but
to
Christian believers. ... The OT ... [likens] election to God’s
historical
‘calling’ ... but the NT distinguishes the two things sharply, by
representing
election as God’s act of predestinating sinners to salvation in Christ
‘before the foundation of the world.’"

Finally, the article
states, "The
fullest elucidation of this principle is found in the writings of Paul.
From all eternity, Paul declares, God has had a plan (prothesis)
to save a church, though in earlier times it was not fully made
known. ... The aim of the plan is that men should be made God’s adopted
sons and be renewed in the image of Christ..., and that the church, the
company of those so renewed, should grow to the fulness of Christ. ...
Believers may rejoice in the certainty that as part of his plan God predestinated
them personally to share in this destiny."

That's What It's All
About!

This is the joy of our
calling,
and the hope of our salvation! As part of our calling to salvation,
God,
at some point, knew us ahead of time. Then He gave us the wonderful
destiny
we have -- our incredible human potential! We haven't achieved the
fullness
of that destiny yet. It is, at this point, a pre-destiny!

Then He called us. When we
answered
His call, He justified us in the waters of baptism. If we continue the
life of an overcomer to the end, He will glorify us in the
resurrection,
and give us a reward according to our works in this life.

Our whole Christian life is
meant
to be a fulfillment, a promise, a challenge, and a joy! God has set an
incredible destiny before us. Those who know the plan of God
should
never
be fooled by the devil's cruel hoax of predestinarianism!

Ultimately, the entire
human race
will be called to join God’s Family, in the future. Those people
will be faced with much the same choices then that we
face
today.
But God has called us out of time, according to His plan, so that we
may
be ready when He needs us, to help Him in whatever way He needs us,
when
He invites the rest of mankind to join His Family.

However, our destiny is
truly conditional.
We can lose it. We can throw it away. We can re-crucify our Savior and
put Him to an open shame. We can put our hand to the plow, but look
back.
Any number of scriptures show us that we won't achieve that destiny
unless
we really want it, and are willing to fight and overcome our
human
nature, and resist Satan.

God wants to give us
our
destiny. He's working with each person in the ekklesia every
day
to achieve that destiny. But He isn't going to force us to
live
a sinless life. And He isn't going to give His precious free gift of
being
among the first fruits to anyone and everyone.

We must participate in our
own
salvation. We must work out our salvation, because we can lose it!
That's
where the fear and trembling come in -- the fact that we can lose out,
and see others enter into the Kingdom of God, while we ourselves are
thrust
out.

Scripture after scripture
shows
that our salvation is conditional. We have salvation now, but
someone
else could take our crown, and we can lose it!

Predestination is about the
greatest
possible gift God could give to mankind -- eternal life as sons of God!

Predestinarianism, on the
other
hand, becomes nothing more than a false doctrine of false hope and
false
futility. It robs us of our part in God’s plan. It makes growing
and overcoming in our Christian lives seem totally unnecessary. It
doesn't
assure anyone that they will "make it" -- rather, it causes everyone
to doubt and fear, and to suspect that God may be up to no good.

By this time, we should
know enough
about God’s plan for mankind to know that He is not unfair,
harsh,
cruel, unyielding, or monstrously evil, as the doctrine of
predestinarianism
paints Him to be. Rather, we know we have a loving Father in the
heavens,
who is near to us, who is interested in our lives.

We know that we have an
older Brother
giving us strength, who serves as our defender, our representative, our
Mediator, who is pulling for us every step of the Way. We know we have
God’s Spirit in us, with us, alongside of us,
helping
us at all times.

Even if we go through the
valley
of the shadow of all sorts of nasty things, if we keep our eyes on the
goal before us, the wonderful future that God predestined us to have,
we
should not fear any evil, because of the many promises God has made us.

Let's look at one of those
promises,
in 2 Peter 1:1-11 (NKJV): "Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of
Jesus
Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us [because
of our own righteousness? No,] by the righteousness of our God
and
Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the
knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all
things
that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who
called
us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly
great
and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers
of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world
through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence,
add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge
self-control,
to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness
brotherly
kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours
and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is
shortsighted,
even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old
sins. Therefore, brethren,
be even more diligent to make your call and
election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the
everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."